Controversies surrounding programs sponsored by the Multicultural Student Center led to heightened interest in this year’s Diversity Programs planning meeting, but not as many people as expected participated in the meeting last Wednesday.

Each year the MSC hosts a planning meeting in which students, faculty, and staff share programming ideas for the upcoming school year. Last year’s planning meeting had 20-30 people in attendance, while this year 14 students and faculty were in attendance.

Nevertheless, director of the MSC Consuela Ward said the meeting was “awesome.”

“They had some great ideas,” Ward said.

At the meeting, students and faculty discussed what they liked and disliked about past events, new programs, and Martin Luther King observance speakers. The MLK speakers that the participants supported include, in order of votes: Michael Eric Dyson, Toni Morrison, Henry Louis Gates, and Julian Bond.

The budget for the speakers will be discussed with the Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Teresa Thompson, who will then make a decision on which speaker to sponsor.

Each group table at the meeting had a representative from the MSC taking note of all the ideas presented by the participants. The MSC will be following up with the ideas and working out the logistics to put on the programs next academic year.

“The large majority of the programs that we do come out of this meeting,” said Ward. “If we are presenting to the campus community, it’s important to hear from the people we are serving.”

According to data released on March 3, 2009, the percentage of student demographic groups served by the MSC is comparable to the student demographics of Georgia Southern University.

The programs discussed at the planning meeting focused on representing the student body. The MSC will continue to put together the 2009-2010 diversity calendar through the rest of this semester and summer.




Sade Oshinubi